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Collapsed School Bus Driver
Location: Dunnellon, Florida Date: December 18, 1991 Story Each day, more than fifty children ride to school with Dunnellon, Florida, bus driver 65-year-old Donald Snyder. On the morning of December 18, 1991, twelve-year-old Kenny Perrone was one of six boys whom Mr. Snyder picked up at his first story, at around 7:00. Kenny is a special education student with Attention Deficit Disorder, a condition resulting from a lack of the chemical in the brain that allows us to focus on one noise and block out others. Because it is difficult for Kenny to concentrate on one thing at a time, he is usually distracted and inattentive. Kenny always sat in the rear of the bus, but that morning he took a seat right behind Mr. Snyder. As the bus approached the right turn into Dunnellon Middle School, Kenny noticed that Mr. Snyder wasn't looking very good. "What's the matter, Mr. Snyder?" asked Kenny. "What's the matter?" Mr. Snyder started gasping for air and couldn't respond. His bus missed the turn to the school and began weaving on the road. Kenny realized that Mr. Snyder had slumped over and lost consciousness. Kenny jumped out of his seat and got next to Mr. Snyder. Almost simultaneously, the children all noticed they had passed the school's entrance. When they looked at Mr. Snyder and saw him slumped over in his seat, instant panic broke out. Kenny took charge and yelled to the kids to move to the back of the bus in case it crashed. Kenny's classmate, Ehren Brown, joined him in an effort to take control of the bus, which was heading for a telephone pole. While Ehren struggled to hold up Mr. Snyder, Kenny tried to peel his foot off the gas pedal and grab hold of the steering wheel. The children screamed in fear, but Kenny managed to steer the bus away from the telephone pole and get his foot on the brake pedal. He pushed hard on the brake and brought the bus to a stop, almost five hundred feet from where Mr. Snyder lost consciousness. Kenny pulled the door lever and his classmates fled from the bus. One ran to get the assistant principal, Herbert Dupree, who was patrolling the schoolyard, and another notified the office that he thought Mr. Snyder had suffered a heart attack. The office called 911 and rescue units from Monroe Regional Ambulance Service were dispatched to the scene. When rescuers arrived, Mr. Snyder was regaining consciousness. He did not complain of pain, but he recalled experiencing stomach cramps right before passing out. Through questioning, paramedic Greg Bicksler suspected that Mr. Snyder's blackout was the result of a severe reaction to prescription cough medicine he had taken that morning for the first time. As Mr. Snyder was loaded into the ambulance, Kenny wished him well. "He felt pretty bad," recalls Kenny. "It's scary when you see somebody get sick. He had been a friend to me and I wanted to help him." At the hospital, tests confirmed the paramedic's suspicion. "A lot of people take cold medicines," says Bicksler. "But very few actually think about what they're taken." He advises people to allow themselves at least thirty minutes before engaging in activities that require good judgement, such as driving, after taken medication, including cold medicines. This is done as a precaution in the event they have a negative reaction to the drug. When Mr. Snyder learned what Kenny had done, he was more than grateful to him. He was also surprised that one of his smallest passengers would take command the way he did. Kenny's classmates and teachers were also a little surprised, but totally impressed by his bravery and quick thinking. "What he did was really, really, really heroic," says one student. "I don't think anybody else would have had the guts to do what he did." Susan and Andy Perrone are extremely proud that Kenny knew how to handle the emergency. "Kenny likes to take charge of things," says Andy, a Volunteer Fire Chief. "That day he took charge of things the proper way." Kenny and Ehren were honored by the city of Dunellon with an award for their heroic efforts in stopping the school bus. Category:1991 Category:Florida Category:Kid Heroes Category:Holiday Category:Christmas Category:Disabled Heroes Category:Runaway Vehicles